Written by: Pana •
September 3, 2009
The Internet just turned 40 years old today. In Fall 1969 two California universities sent/shared the first data between two computers and set the foundation for what was to become the Internet. A 15 foot grey cable that would allow for communication of computers passed the first data. Keep in mind these computers were designed without any idea that they would ever have a need to intercommunicate; hence the term “technocentric”. The machines had no internal mechanism to interconnect with and the Operating Systems they were running were quite different. This necessitated an agnostic platform, and standard approach that would work on any platform (this would evolve into TCP/IP) which is by necessity platform agnostic.
The origin of this project was a result of the Russians successfully testing an atomic bomb. The American Governemt/DARPA realized that in the event of a nuclear war, underground bases would need a method to communicate. Without a phone company that would survive, they designed the concept of using computers that would pass the data over any surviving telephone poles until it reached its destination in this case an underground military base. TCPIP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol), would try every path until it succeeded or failed to meet its intended destination. By the end of the month Stanford and UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah would all be interconnected in a network sharing their data and the number crunching resources for their astronomy research. The rest of the internet grew connection by connection until we have what we today refer to as the internet. All company networks, network printing, websites, etc. are derivative of this first internetworking.
Happy 40th internet I can’t even remember life without you lmao !
I thought Al Gore invented the internet? lol j/k
Thanks for the history lesson.